How to settle debt with Attorney Office?

My credit card account is in debt collection and be passed to a attorney to sue me. I have contacted the attorney – he started threatening me that he has my account only to sue me – and that any arrangement with go through the court. I had asked how to avoid that, then he suggests that I settle with him and then will not be sued and avoid judgment – He is willing to settle but I am not sure if this is trap. The reason is that in NH where the account is, if a creditor cashes a full payment check and explicitly retains his right to sue you by writing "under protest or without prejudice" with his endorsement, then he can come after you for the balance. But those exact words must be used. If he writes "without recourse," communicates with you separately, notifies you verbally or writes on the check that it is partial payment, it is not enough.
Please advise how I could make sure he is not going to trap me and come back for the unpaid part later.

Technorati Tags: credit card account, creditor, debt collection, endorsement, exact words, judgment, prejudice, protest, quot, recourse

Posted January 21st, 2010 in Debt Settlement. Tagged: credit card account, creditor, debt collection, endorsement, exact words, judgment, prejudice, protest, quot, recourse.

2 comments:

Oldlady:
You should probably talk to a lawyer. Look up Legal Aid in the white pages and call them for a low cost/free legal visit.

I would also ask the lawyer to prove he is working on behalf of the company he claims. It can be a scam, they find out you owe money, say pay me to avoid a suit, and they take your money, even though they are not really working for the company.

I’ve helped others in that situation and whenever they have asked for proof they are working on behalf of the credit company, the person owing money never hears from them again.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:44 am
My Take on It:
The *attorney* that you called is probably not even an attorney. A lot of collection agencies will use this tactic in order to scare people into handing over bank account #s or agreeing to terms that are not in their best interest. You should ask him for his license number and see how fast he tries to talk around that.

Also, if you do not get it in writing, you can be assured these people will either act as if the agreement you came to over the phone never existed, or they will sue you anyways.

Again, I have a feeling this guy wasn’t an attorney. How old is this debt anyways?
January 21st, 2010 at 4:44 am